Dark Duets Part 42

She allowed Liath to s.n.a.t.c.h it from her fingers and leaf through it. After a few pages, he glanced up at her.

"You're making a nice living from this, aren't you."

"I manage. I don't plan to be in it forever."

He resumed flipping through the pages. "I don't recognize-wait!" He jabbed a finger at a page. "Madame Louisa! She's a weakness for fine fabrics. She's a regular customer for me imports." His features darkened. "She has a woman revenant?"

Rasheeda nodded. "Katrina."

He snapped the book closed. "Then she's the one."

Rasheeda pulled her ledger from his hands. "I agree. Now where is my sustaining oil?"

"Not so fast. I'll be needing to confirm it's her. Once we accomplish that, you'll have your oil."

"d.a.m.n you!" she cried. "The moon will be full soon. If I don't start anointing on time-"

"If Madame Louisa is the one, you'll have your precious oil in plenty of time."

She could feel her patience slipping away. "What will satisfy you?"

"I want to set up watch on her brothel. After Jesse Timbers ran from the Stone Ox, he returned with a man with a scarred face."

"The one who stabbed Toby."

"The same. If I see him lurking about her premises, that will be proof enough."

"Then let's get to it quickly. You'll need that dress you were wearing."

"Oh, no. I'll not be donning that again."

"Oh, and I suppose you're just going to walk in the front door of her seraglio and inquire after a man with a scarred face?"

"No, but-"

"She knows you're alive. This scarred man you talk about will have told her. If she's guilty-and I've no doubt she is-she'll be watching for you. She killed you once, so she'll have no hesitation about doing it again."

"I can die again?"

"It takes some doing, but a revenant can be killed for good."

For some odd reason he looked relieved.

"All right then. The dress it is. I'll go down there tomorrow-"

"No. We will go down there tomorrow. Two, um, ladies will be less conspicuous. Besides, I don't dare let you out of my sight. I don't want anything happening to you before you return what's mine."

"All right then, 'we' it is. And if all goes well, you'll have your heathen oil back before nightfall."

"At what price?"

"I'll already have me price: the name of me murderer."

So he said now. But she'd seen the way he'd been eyeing the tallies in her ledger. He'd want a healthy sum of cash before handing over her missing carafe. She ground her teeth in frustration. He had her over a barrel, and she'd have to pay whatever he demanded.

But after that . . . she thought of her derringer. A .41-caliber bullet through his scheming revenant Irish brain would be sweet revenge. And then into the crematorium with him.

Good-bye and good riddance.

RASHEEDA WAS KNOWN at Madame Louisa's, so she wore a veil as well this time. They strolled East Twenty-Seventh Street among the midday pedestrians, feigning animated conversation. Governor Westinghouse's electrification program was in full bloom here.

"As much as I can't wait for electricity to reach Harlem," Rasheeda said, pointing to the utility poles, "I think they're ugly."

And they were. Five stories tall with at least a dozen crosspieces, and wires, wires, wires, running over the sidewalk and angling back and forth in the air above the street.

Liath didn't reply. This close, she could make out his features through the veil draped from his hat; his gaze was fixed on the brownstone that served as Madame Louisa's seraglio.

They slowed as they pa.s.sed the building. The s.p.a.ce to the right of the front steps displayed ferrotypes of the ladies available within.

"Rather fine-looking bra.s.sers," Liath muttered.

"She brags that she runs a 'quality establishment.' "

With no sign of activity, they walked on to the corner and turned around.

Liath said, "With that arena over on Madison Avenue, her business must be booming. Why would she want to kill me?"

"I wouldn't take it personally. Some women have a fatal weakness for diamonds."

They crossed Twenty-Seventh Street at Lexington and walked back on the other side. As they came abreast of the seraglio, a steam car pulled to a stop outside. Liath grabbed her arm and they stopped to watch. His grip tightened as a man with a long scar down his right cheek stepped out from behind the wheel and opened the rear door.

Then the lady herself emerged, resplendent in a dress of two-toned velvet, golden at first glance but indigo in the lowlights as the fabric moved. Liath's hand became a vise.

"You're hurting me," Rasheeda whispered.

His grip relaxed, but his voice was tight and cold. "That's the man who stabbed Toby. And the b.i.t.c.h Louisa is wearing the fabric I was carrying to me sister."

He started toward the curb, but Rasheeda pulled him back.

"Don't be a fool. She has a cadre of bouncers inside. A headlong rush will end in disaster. You need to plan your next move."

He nodded. "You're right. Must stay calm. Must approach this with a cool head."

Must stay alive, Rasheeda thought. At least until I have my oil back.

RASHEEDA WAS SEATED in her office when Liath, still in the dress, entered without knocking. He placed a dirt-encrusted carafe on her desk.

"There. We're even."

She s.n.a.t.c.hed it up, pulled the stopper, and sniffed. She closed her eyes and sighed at the familiar aroma.

Wait . . . what had he just said?

" 'Even'?"

"You held up your end, I'm holding up mine."

"But . . . aren't you going to demand cash too?"

"That wasn't the deal."

"I know, but I a.s.sumed-"

"What? That I'd welsh?

"Well, yes."

He smiled. "I'm a character from a penny dreadful, remember? I keep me word."

Shock left her almost speechless. "But-"

"I believe we've already had this conversation." He stepped to the door, then turned back to her. "I'll be keeping the dress for a while, if you don't mind."

"Consider it yours. But tell me . . ." She pointed to the carafe. "Where did you hide it?"

He smiled again. "I buried it in your graveyard."

He gave her a little salute, then turned and closed the door behind him.

Still in shock, Rasheeda leaned back and stared at her carafe. What a strange, strange man.

5. Under a Hunter's Moon Liath wished he had paid more attention to the brothel itself while they were surveilling Louisa. He'd spent days in this d.a.m.n dress and bonnet watching the comings and goings and a.s.sessing the physical layout of the building. He had spied Louisa numerous times on a top-floor corner room overlooking the street. Unfortunately, the bas.e.m.e.nt windows were barred and the first-floor windows were set high; unless he brought a ladder, the two doors-one front and one rear-were the only points of entry.

On the third day, he decided to make his move. He'd noticed during his two days on watch that Louisa's four bouncers left as a group around noon and returned before two o'clock when the brothel opened its doors to the public. Today was no different. They exited the rear door-the "discreet entrance"-and disappeared down the alley that ran to East Twenty-Sixth.

Now was his chance. Despite his increased strength and diminished sensitivity to pain, Liath held no illusions about his ability to overcome those four burly thugs. So the best time to confront Louisa and retrieve his diamonds was when she was alone.

He dearly would have loved a peek indoors before entering, just to see if he might spot her whereabouts, but the high windows prevented that.

Raising the hem of his dress, he padded up the rear steps, his picks at the ready. But to his delight he found the discreet entrance unlocked. Were he in charge, he would have kept it bolted during the establishment's off-hours; perhaps it was supposed to be locked, but obviously the bouncers had forgotten to do so.

He eased the door open and tiptoed through the back hall that led to some sort of sitting room. And there, reclining on a settee, he found the madam herself. Did his good fortune know no bounds?

He glanced around and saw a table for cards and perhaps meals. A pool table sat nearby, and a dartboard was fixed to the far wall. He wondered at a long rope running through a pulley fastened in the center of the ceiling, then through another near the wall, then down to a boat cleat bolted into the chair rail. Part of some strange deviant s.e.xual contrivance, no doubt.

Pulling off his bonnet as he entered the room, he strode toward her and said, "Surprised, Louisa?"

Instead of the expected cry of shock and alarm, Louisa looked up and gave a serene smile.

"Well, well, well. Mister O'Shea. I was afraid you'd never gather the courage to come inside."

Liath skidded to a halt. "What?"

She seemed to have been expecting him.

She laughed. "I do so love your expression just now." Her features hardened. "Do you really take me for such a fool?"

Why wasn't she afraid?

"And what would you be meaning by that?"

"I've been aware for some time now that you'd been brought back to life. I know who did it, though I don't know why and I don't know how." Her eyes narrowed. "But I will learn."

"Why did you set upon me?"

She ran a hand over her velvet dress. "I love this fabric. I wore it just for you."

They both knew she hadn't done him in for the fabric. Well, never mind all this. He'd lost the element of surprise, but he still had the upper hand. He stepped closer.

"Where are me diamonds?"

She laughed. "My dear man, they're far out of reach, where no man shall go."

Another step. She seemed to be goading him. Did she have a pistol hidden close by? Was that why she was so calm? Not that it would do her any good. He was already dead.

"Hand them over or you'll end up like Jesse Timbers."

She smiled. "Ah, yes, Jesse. He became a little talky trying to impress one of my girls. She mentioned it to me, and soon Jesse and I had a plan."

He gave her a hard stare. "You know d.a.m.n well-"

A sudden commotion behind him. He turned to face four men charging from the rear hallway. The bouncers had returned, each brandishing a truncheon. They hadn't gone to lunch-they'd been hiding around the corner, waiting for him to make his move.

After an instant of shock and chagrin at how he had waltzed into Louisa's trap, Liath instinctively stepped back into a boxing stance. As the first thug came at him, he ducked the truncheon swing and sent him tumbling back into his mates with a roundhouse right to the jaw. His bra.s.s knuckles were in the bodice of his dress, but before he could reach them the bouncers were upon him.

Truncheon blows from all sides rained upon his head and neck, driving him to his knees. As his vision blurred, he heard Louisa's voice echo from increasingly far away.

"You didn't think that dress fooled me, did you? All the while you've been watching me, I've been watching you!"

Her laughter faded into the enveloping darkness.

LIATH OPENED HIS eyes. His vision swam for a few seconds, then cleared. He tried to move his arms, but his hands were bound behind him. He kicked his legs, but they met no resistance. After a moment of confusion, he realized he was hanging in midair. And something was constricting his throat.

"He's alive!" cried a voice from somewhere below him. "Good G.o.d, the b.l.o.o.d.y b.a.s.t.a.r.d's still alive!"

He looked down and saw Louisa and her four bully boys staring up at him from the floor of her sitting room. The men looked awestruck, Louisa merely amused. Her blond revenant servant, Katrina, dressed in a short French maid costume, stood to the side and stared into s.p.a.ce. Katrina had killed him, but he bore her no malice. She was little more than fleshy clockwork. Liath reserved his wrath for the ones who had plotted his death.

"I warned you it wouldn't kill him," Louisa said. "Now aren't you glad you tied his hands as I told you?" She looked up at him. "I closed my business tonight in honor of your capture. We'll devote the evening to trying to find a way to make you stay dead."